Woman Gets Her Stolen Van Back By Texting Thief (Video)

A Missouri single mother decided to turn to text messages to get her stolen van back.

Megan Bratten was leaving a Kmart store when she discovered that a man had stolen the van she uses for work.

“I just got angry and then I remembered that phone was in there and I thought ‘Let me text them a message' and I did,” said Bratten. “I used some pretty explicit words and I said ‘Hey, you just stole a single mother of five's work van. You are ruining my life here.’”

Bratten said that after a few hours, she still hadn’t heard anything back, so she kept texting. In her final text, Bratten decided she wasn’t above begging.

“OMG car thief people can you just give me my van back!” Bratten wrote. “It would be epic, the miracle I need right now.”

Right when it appeared that all hope was lost, the car thief finally texted back and gave her step by step directions to where she could find the van. Bratten, her mother and her dog went together to the location and found the van parked. Bratten says she didn’t have the heart to report the situation to police because of an honest final message from the thief.

“I do feel bad...my kids needed a meal on the table so that's what their dad did got them food,” he wrote to Bratten. “I know its wrong but it's been so hard since I lost my job.”

Bratten says she is thankful that the van was returned and was surprised to see that the thieves filled up the transmission fluid for her.

“I can really relate on the human level of the struggle of feeling desperate and making poor choices,” said Bratten. “I can understand how people act out of fear making poor choices. What matters in the end, he really did the right thing.”